Little green men search for Chelyabinsk meteorite

A team of divers have been trying to fish out the largest fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite in Chelyabinsk District’s Lake Chebarkul since early September. Members of the expedition say that unbelievable things are happening at the lake, and “intelligent sediment” hinders them in their efforts of getting at the meteorite.

Interesting events are unfolding at Chebarkul Lake near the
area of the meteorite’s impact. Divers are still trying to search out the
largest chunk of bolide. So far, they have only been able to reach it with a
probe, and only smaller splinters have been found.

On the day of our visit, there was a cold drizzle over the
lake and a bitter wind drove dark clouds across the sky. Leaving the shore, we
made it to the location of the search mission in a rubber boat with a motor,
which we shared with the Chelyabinsk lifeguards who remain on duty 24/7 back on
shore.

The trip lasted less than 10 minutes and brought us to a
platform with a surface area of about 20 feet by 26 feet, with a bright yellow
tent at its center. This was the main “stationary” platform. Next to it were
two more mobile platforms of smaller size, equipped with everything necessary
for diving; the divers initiate dives from these platforms.

The platform offers a
beautiful view of Chebarkul and its surroundings. Floating nearby is the famous
705-pound, red-and-white buoy that was placed there to mark the location of the
meteorite’s landing. It has been moved about 77 yards to the side of the impact
point, so as not to interfere with the search mission.

The pit at the bottom

In front of us, two divers enter the water, one after the
other. In total, four people work on the brigade, plus the manager and his
assistant. The most interesting things are happening underwater, though.

“You can call it a ‘pit’ […] being dug at the bottom
of the reservoir with the help of special technical equipment,” Maxim Shipulin
says, explaining the essence of the operation to us. He is the technical
director at the Yekaterinburg-based company that is handling the meteorite’s
lifting.

“At first, we thought that its diameter would be 20 feet,
but it has reached 65 feet today and the scope of the search has expanded.
Divers have passed the 45-foot mark. Work is being carried out in zero
visibility conditions, by touch. This demands not only the highest level of
professional training from the divers, but also an excellent vestibular system:
You can easily lose your orientation in space,” says Shipulin.

“One of the team members was almost crushed by a dense
layer of silt. It’s good he didn’t give in to panic. That is to say, there
is an element of risk, and, the deeper divers go, the more difficult the work
is,” the director says.

The team works from dawn to dusk, without days off. There
is basically always someone underwater, with the exception of lunch break.

“Little green men” get
in the way

According to divers, at the start of the operation, the
hydrolocator indicated that “an object resembling a meteorite” was located at
the bottom—but searches yielded absolutely no results. The mood changed after
diver Alexei Lyakhov reached the meteorite with a 1.5-foot-long probe. Then, on
Sept. 24, he found a chunk of the meteorite approximately the size of a fist.

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“You get the feeling
that some kind of ‘little green men’ don’t want to relinquish the cosmic body
to earthlings,” Shipulin says, sharing his observations.

“We thought that we could reach the ‘big’ meteorite at a
depth of 46 feet, but it keeps getting sucked deeper, and we are already
talking about continuing the work at 52–65 feet. We have already come up with a
new term — ‘intelligent sediment,’” says the technical director.

“In addition,
unbelievable things are happening: We have punctured the boat five times,
motors fail, and instruments go crazy. It’s just some sort of
anomalous zone!”

We also visited the expedition’s tent camp, which is set up
on the shore of Lake Chebarkul. The first thing that caught our eye was a
banner: “The ide [fish] and men versus the meteorite and little green men.”

“There is that meme of a man who has just caught a
big fish, smiles and yells, “Ide!’” says Nikolai Murzin, explaining the idea
behind the banner. “We liked that image and decided to make it the symbol of
this expedition. Well, everything else is clear about the men, about the
meteorite and about the green men.”

Working in a secret zone

The team hauls up a mound of stones every day; they come
across anchors and numerous magnets. With the help of these magnets, the
meteorite hunters have tried to extract small pieces of the cosmic body.

As the expedition participants sort out so many rocks, they
are beginning to identify them, working together with professional geologists: They
say that meteorite fragments can be distinguished by melting properties and
characteristic crystals.

After recovering three fragments at once on Sept. 26,
they hope that they have finally come close to the “big” meteorite (according
to preliminary data, it measures approximately 20 inches by 35 inches).

A meteorite fragment weighing 10.6 pounds was pulled up
from the bottom by Maxim Gorbunov — the largest to date. The team did not permit
us to take an historic photo, however: All work related to the meteorite must
be done in secret. According to the terms of the contract, all information
pertaining to the meteorite may only be released by the contracting
client.